Iowa man pleads not guilty to charges in fatal March crash

IDA GROVE, Iowa (AP) — A man Iowa authorities say was intoxicated when his vehicle crashed into another, killing three men, has pleaded not guilty to charges in the case.

The Sioux City Journal reports that 21-year-old Ryan Childers, of Odebolt, entered the written plea Friday in Ida County District Court to three counts of vehicular homicide and one count of serious injury by motor vehicle.

Authorities say Childers was driving a pickup truck the wrong way on Highway 59 just north of Holstein on March 16 when he hit a car head-on. The car burst into flames, killing its occupants, 21-year-old Francisco Joel Nicia Guerro, 25-year-old Jose Danilo Gonzalez Guerro, and 39-year-old Felipe De La Cruz Nava, all of Denison. Childers and his passenger were seriously injured.

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